The federal law enforcement officials said the gunman who opened fire on former President Donald Trump had a social media account where he posted antisemitic and anti-immigrant content.
FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate told a joint hearing by two Senate committees on Tuesday that the account is believed to belong to Thomas Crooks, the 19-year-old shooter with the posts made in 2019 and 2020 when Crooks was a high school student, The Associated Press reported.
Abbate said the account had more than 700 comments which, “if ultimately attributable to the shooter, appear to reflect antisemitic and anti-immigration themes, to espouse political violence, and are described as extreme in nature,” CNN reported.
The second in command of the FBI appeared at the joint hearing of the Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, along with acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe.
Rowe said that the agency’s sniper team and the former president’s security detail did not know Crooks was on the roof of a building 147 yards from Trump.
But law enforcement spotted Crooks more than 90 minutes before he opened fire. Rowe said that local law enforcement was aware of a suspicious person before the shots were fired, but that the Secret Service did not know he had a gun until the shots were fired, calling it a “failure on multiple levels,” CNN reported.
Rowe said he has traveled to the Western Pennsylvania location telling the committees “What I saw made me ashamed.” He said the agency will “provide full cooperation and respond expeditiously on a continuing basis to ensure you have the information you need to conduct your critical oversight.”
He said that the agency is “reviewing the actions and decision-making of Secret Service personnel in the lead-up to and on the day of the attack,” adding that if anyone violated protocols, they will be held accountable, CNN reported.
Rowe took over control of the agency with the resignation of Kimberly Cheatle, after she refused or was unable to answer questions from the House of Representatives following the July 13 attempted assassination of Trump.
Trump was wounded in his ear. One rallygoer at the event at the Butler Farm Show grounds was killed while two others were wounded.
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